Dynasty – The Complete First Season

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: B-     Episodes: B+

 

 

The nighttime soap opera of the 1980s is a cycle of television that has been understudied and quickly dismissed.  Though many of the shows do not hold up well and others are forgotten, it was very new at the time and a relatively permanent part of the TV landscape today, recently replaced by the cheapie “reality TV” cycle.  The best of such shows remains Dynasty, launched by ABC in 1981 as a counterpart to the CBS/Lorimar hit Dallas.  The show also had oil as part of the focus of family wealth and power, but the show was different and as it went on, it would become even more unique.

 

Though it is hard to imagine now, Joan Collins was not even in the first season, but became an instant icon upon arrival.  Aaron Spelling was at the peak of his producing powers when he backed the show.  Richard & Esther Shapiro created it and the show landed up trumping Dallas in profound ways.  Both owe a huge debt to George Stevens’ epic feature film version of Edna Ferber’s Giant from 1956, but where Dallas was interested in rollback politics, in so far as putting women in a corner and going overboard on creating a “man’s” world.  It forgot about the significance of Elizabeth Taylor’s character or the idea of changes in Texas.  Dynasty was set in Denver, Colorado and by expanding upon the world Ferber’s classic book and Stevens’ classic film, the show became an unexpected groundbreaker on TV and did things most feature films did not dare try.

 

Maybe it was easier as features were getting more fantasy oriented, but Dynasty was ready to take on the mantle of Classical Hollywood like no TV series ever had before, and this is beyond Nolan Miller’s remarkable and much-imitated clothes.  There was the power-mad Blake Carrington (John Forsythe in one of his best-ever roles) who was especially dangerous in the early shows, Krystle (Linda Evans) as the woman who could be his new wife, daughter Fallon (Pamela Sue Martin) as the poor little rich girl with sexuality to spare and more wisdom than anyone would suspect, son Steven (Al Corley) who has not lived up to his father’s expectations and is gay, and the many people inside and outside the Carrington Mansion who could cause the fragile, rich, dysfunctional family to crumble.

 

This is not to say Dallas was shallow, because it was also more believable in the beginning, but that it followed too many archetypes, was more predictable and therefore less outrageous.  The Who Shot J.R.? episode may have been the biggest show any such series ever offered, but Dynasty endured longer in its original run and definitely endures better than expected today.  The way it shows the rich was unprecedented, making Dallas look reserved by comparison, especially in its more casual attitude about wealth, also more realistic.

 

Before Collins arrived and the creative forces found remarkable ways to foil the weekly TV grid and keep viewers watching, this was an exceptionally written, intelligent, adult, serious show that remained smarter than its outrages would lead you to believe.  The episodes in this set are, with audio commentary tracks signified by an *:

 

1)     Oil (the pilot in three hourish parts, spilt in two on this set) *

2)     The Honeymoon

3)     The Dinner Party

4)     Fallon’s Wedding

5)     The Chauffer Tells A Secret

6)     The Bordello

7)     Krystle’s Lie

8)     The Necklace

9)     The Beating

10)  The Birthday Party

11)  The Separation *

12)  Blake Goes To Jail

13)  The Testimony *

 

 

And to think this was a mid-season replacement.  The show was done in a way that is far from the lame political correctness of today, yet was not some ideologically right of center show that Dallas could be mildly characterized as.  By dealing with more characters, being a show about the rich like had never been seen before (The Beverly Hillbillies they were not) and being bold in the subtlest ways, this is easily some of the best TV of the 1980s.  In some cases, it is simply landmark TV, because the cast and its chemistry is remarkable.  The teleplays are topnotch.  The production is one of the peaks of what the wealthy and power of The Big Three networks could accomplish in their heyday.

 

Eventually, the show did become a soap opera and in this season, but it is one of the most well laid-out serializations you will ever see.  Later hour-long soapers came along later, but none of them have come close to how solid and strong this show was.  Robert Davi, Brian Dennehy and additional regulars Bo Hopkins and Pamela Bellwood were among the additional cast highlights.  Dynasty is a TV classic and an American icon for many reasons.  This double-sided double DVD set shows why.

 

The full frame 1.33 X 1 image looks good, much better as a matter of fact than in its original network run or even current cable revival.  The cinematography of Richard L. Rawlings, A.S.C., may seem a bit darker than expected, but that could also be seen a s a bit ahead of its time.  It certainly avoided the flat, bright Texas look Dallas offered, while being shot as if for a bigger-than-TV screen.  These prints are in fine shape and the Fox/Spelling people must have stored these copies well.  Bill Conti did the memorable music score, including the classic theme song, which would be altered slightly later.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is pretty good, though a stereo remix would have been nice.  Dialogue is very clear for the most part.

 

Extras include commentaries noted above, all with Esther Shapiro and joined by Al Corley in the later two shows.  Family, Furs & Fun: Creating Dynasty runs 23 minutes and lives up to its title.  Profiles on Martin’s Fallon and Corley’s Steven run 5:19 and 5:38 respectively.  Everything Miss Shapiro says is great and is mandatory for anyone who wants to understand TV and film production.  She is a very smart, very well spoken woman and will hopefully do commentaries on every season until the entire series gets released.  As a matter of fact, she is up there with legendary British TV producer Sylvia Anderson when it comes to insight on TV production.  Corley also adds greatly and the featurettes are all fine.  Dynasty – The Complete First Season is one of the best TV on DVD releases we will see this year.  That is possibly until the next seasons of the show surface soon on DVD.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo